Local Excursion: Broadway Zoo

Back in April, we headed to Broadway Zoological Park with our good friends, the Jackson family.

I stumbled across the zoo on Google Maps back in February before it was officially opened and I saw that it already had a ton of 5-star reviews. They were allowing visitors by reservation-only, so I called and booked a Saturday reservation in March. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a rainy weekend, so I cancelled it and we went a few weeks later once they were officially opened for business. 

The zoo is about an hour away from our home in Raleigh. Broadway, NC is small town right outside of Lillington. We actually visited Lillington last October when we kayaked 10 miles down the Cape Fear River. There's a lot of great little towns surrounding Raleigh - perfect for day trips!

We were meeting at 1 PM on a Saturday for the zoo, so before we left for the zoo, I looked for highly-rated lunch options in Lillington. 

Our lunch spot ended up being the highlight of the day!!! We are still talking about it two months later! It was a tiny grill called Pooch's. We ordered burgers, fries, and their signature "Poochie Pie" for dessert, and we ate outside on the porch. 

I should probably re-title this blog post "Local Excursion: Pooch's" because I'm pretty sure we would drive back to Lillington just to eat here again. Brian declared this the best burger he has ever had. The Broadway Zoo became secondary to our lunch at Pooch's, ha!

The zoo is quite literally in the middle of nowhere. We became concerned when the GPS said we had arrived but we were surrounded by only pastures. Then the GPS began doing that thing it does where it looks like it's going haywire and about to blow up and it re-routed us several times but also kept changing it's mind on where this zoo was located. Since we were on a country road, we had no other option but to plow forward. We kept driving and eventually we arrived at the entrance. I texted our friends to give them the head's up: we once were lost but now we're found. 

This zoo is a great family outing. We probably spent $80 or so for the four of us for entry tickets and for extras, such as giraffe and bird feeding. While not as large as the Asheboro Zoo, it did involve a lot of walking and we picked a hot, sunny day, so keep that in mind.

All of the animals seemed very much loved and cared for - this wasn't a depressing roadside zoo like some smaller places we've seen over the years. The only animal that I thought needed to be released was a hawk that definitely needed to fly free. Seeing the hawk did make me sad, but perhaps it was a rescue and there is more to the story that I don't know. 

The coolest animals we saw were the capybaras!

The best part of the zoo was definitely the bird area! For a few dollars, they would give you a stick with bird seed and you could go into the aviary. So much fun to have the birds landing on you and they were everywhere! The kids loved this and the adults did too!

And of course we had to feed the giraffes. :)

Overall, if you live in the surrounding area, definitely make the trip out to this zoo! It wasn't crowded at all on the weekend. I would recommend planning for about 3 hours total. The kids will love it.

Pooch's for lunch would be my recommendation, of course, but for dinner I would have chosen The Riverside Restaurant, which is a waterfront establishment I noticed on our kayaking trip last fall that recently opened. It definitely looks like a place I want to check out. I guess a future trip to Lillington is in store!